Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio named new pope

The cardinals tasked with finding a leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics will hold their first full day of voting Wednesday after failing on their first attempt to elect a Pope.

The 115 cardinal electors are scheduled to return to the Sistine Chapel, where they are expected to cast four ballots – twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.

If no pope is chosen Wednesday, the voting will continue until Saturday March 16, when the cardinals will break for a day of prayer and reflection.

On Tuesday, a plume of black smoke billowed from the Vatican, indicating cardinals have not yet chosen a successor for Pope Benedict XVI on the first day of conclave.

Conclave voting entails each cardinal writing his choice on a rectangular piece of paper inscribed with the words "Eligo in summen pontificem" — Latin for "I elect as Supreme Pontiff."

Holding the folded ballot up in the air, each approaches the altar and places it on a saucer, before tipping it into an oval urn, as he intones these words: "I call as my witness, Christ the Lord, who will be my judge that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected."

After the votes are counted, and the outcomes announced, the papers are bound together with a needle and thread, each ballot pierced through the word "Eligo." The ballots are then placed in a cast-iron stove and burned with a special chemical.

That's when all eyes turn to the 6-foot-high copper chimney erected atop the Sistine Chapel to pipe out puffs of smoke to tell the world if there's a new pope.

Black smoke means "not yet." White smoke means the 266th pope has been chosen.

Tuesday's drama unfolded against the backdrop of the turmoil unleashed by Benedict's surprise resignation and the exposure of deep divisions among cardinals grappling with whether they need a manager to clean up the Vatican's dysfunctional bureaucracy or a pastor who can inspire Catholics at a time of waning faith and growing secularism.

Surrounded by Michelangelo's imposing frescoes portraying the beginning and the end of the world, cardinals locked themselves into the Sistine Chapel following a final appeal for unity by their dean and set about the business of electing the 266th pope.

The 115 scarlet-robed prelates chanted the Litany of Saints, the sounds of the Gregorian chant echoing through the soaring hall as, walking two-by-two, they implored the saints to guide their voting. They then took an oath of secrecy, first collectively and then individually, as each placed his right hand on the gospel and intoned the words in Latin accented by their native languages — English, German, French, Italian, Arabic and so on.

Then the master of liturgical ceremonies intoned the words "Extra omnes" — "everyone out" — and dozens of prelates and Vatican officials departed as the chapel's heavy, ornately carved wooden doors swung shut.

The cardinals then proceeded with the carefully choreographed vote, each writing his choice on a piece of paper, then folding it and tipping it into an urn, to be counted by hand by three "scrutineers" who read out the results, one by one.

With no cardinal winning the required 77 votes on the first ballot, the cardinals returned to the Vatican hotel for a simple dinner of pasta with tomato sauce, soup and vegetables before another day of voting Wednesday.

Benedict's surprise resignation has thrown the church into turmoil and exposed deep divisions between Vatican-based cardinals and those in the field who have complained about Rome's inefficiencies and indifference to their needs.

The leading contenders for pope have fallen into two camps, with Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, seen as favored by those hoping to shake up the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer favored by Vatican-based insiders who have defended the status quo.

Other names include Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who heads the Vatican's powerful office for bishops and U.S. cardinals Timothy Dolan, the exuberant archbishop of New York, and Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston.

In a final appeal before the conclave began, the dean of the College of Cardinals, retired Cardinal Angelo Sodano, used his homily at a morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to urge unity. He asked that cardinals put their differences aside for the good of the church and the future pope.

"Each of us is therefore called to cooperate with the successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity," Sodano said.

He was interrupted by applause from the public in the pews — not so much from the cardinals — when he referred to the "beloved and venerated" Benedict XVI and his "brilliant" pontificate.

Sitting in the front row was Benedict's long-time aide, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who reported that the now-emeritus pope was watching the proceedings from his residence in Castel Gandolfo, 17 miles away, according to Vatican spokesman Rev. Thomas Rosica.

For more than a week, the cardinals have met privately to try to figure out who among them has the stuff to be pope and what his priorities should be. But they ended the debate with questions still unanswered, and many cardinals predicting a drawn-out election that will further expose the church's divisions. The conclave proceeds in silence, with no formal debate, behind closed doors.

During discussions before the conclave, Vatican-based cardinals defended their administration against complaints that they have been unresponsive to diocesan needs, according to leaks of the proceedings in the Italian media. At one point on Monday, the Brazilian head of one Vatican office reportedly drew applause for challenging the Vatican No. 2, who has been blamed for most of the bureaucracy's administrative failings.

"Let us pray for the cardinals who are to elect the Roman pontiff," read one of the prayers during the Mass. "May the Lord fill them with his Holy Spirit, with understanding and good counsel, wisdom and discernment."

In his final radio address Tuesday before being sequestered, Dolan said a certain calm had taken hold, as if "this gentle Roman rain is a sign of the grace of the Holy Spirit coming upon us."

"And there's a sense of resignation and conformity with God's plan. It's magnificent," he said during his regular radio program on SiriusXM's Catholic Channel.

Outside, the faithful gathered to await the outcome, with groups of nuns singing and playing the guitar, cheering the cardinals on.

"I don't expect any quick fixes. There will always be problems," said Sister Manaoag, a nun from the Philippines. "We have to not get stuck with seeing things like factions and problems, but see beyond that. What does God want? This is something we sometimes forget."

Other pilgrims acknowledged the challenges facing the church.

"It's a moment of crisis for the church, so we have to show support of the new pope," said Veronica Herrera, a real estate agent from Mexico who traveled to Rome for the conclave with her husband and daughter.

Yet the mood was not entirely somber.

A group of women who say they are priests launched pink smoke from a balcony overlooking the square to demand female ordination — a play on the famous smoke signals that will tell the world whether a pope has been elected. Two topless activists from Femen, a Ukrainian feminist group, were dragged away by police. Femen activists have previously protested the Vatican's opposition to gay marriage.

And in a bizarre twist, basketball star Dennis Rodman promised to be in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday in a makeshift popemobile as he campaigns for Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana to become the first black pope.

None of the cardinals will see it, since they will be sequestered inside the Vatican walls. They are allowed to travel only from the Vatican hotel through the gardens to the Sistine Chapel and back until they have elected a pope. No telephones, no newspapers, no television, no tweeting.

The focus of the ritual is on the Sistine Chapel, the Michelangelo masterwork painted over the course of nearly 30 years starting in 1508, and so astonishing to Pope John Paul II that he called it "the sanctuary of the theology of the body."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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An American Pope? Cardinal Dolan may charm his way to Vatican

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is quick with a quip and, more often than not, he is the target of his own sense of humor -- a trait that will continue to serve him well if he is to become the first American pope.

While archbishop of Milwaukee a decade ago, Dolan once wore the Green Bay Packers’ trademark “cheesehead” hat during a homily. Last September, he shared a stage at Fordham University with Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert for a moderated discussion of humor and faith and more than held his own in generating laughs. And when named a cardinal last year, Dolan joked to a reporter at New York’s fabled St. Patrick’s Cathedral that he’d pondered holding the title as a little boy growing up in Missouri.

"I can never remember a time I didn't want to be a priest."

- Cardinal Timothy Dolan

“When I was 6 years old, I wanted to be Stan Musial!” Dolan replied, referring to the late baseball Hall of Famer.

In a more serious moment, Dolan, who grew up the eldest of five and the son of a McDonnell Douglas engineer and a homemaker, acknowledged that as a boy he would pretend to celebrate Mass.

"I can never remember a time I didn't want to be a priest," he said.

The self-deprecation of the New York archbishop has been known to soften a sharp intellect, staunch conservatism and formidable fundraising skills, traits that would appear to have him on the short list to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who retired on Feb. 28.  As head of the second-biggest U.S. archdiocese with 2.5 million Catholics, Dolan also has used his wit to deliver a message to critics. When some questioned his invitation to President Obama to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner over the president’s views on gay marriage and abortion last October, Dolan took to his blog to reply.

“If I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I’d be taking all my meals alone,” wrote Dolan, 63, who had earlier strongly condemned Obama’s signature health care law, which he believes violated rights of employers by forcing them to provide health insurance that covered abortion and birth control.

Dolan is not immune to the stain of sex abuse scandals that plagued the church in past decades. The Milwaukee diocese he led from 2002 to 2009 was one of eight to file for bankruptcy since 2002 amid a flood of civil claims. Dolan publicized the names of priests accused of molesting children and also authorized $20,000 payments to predator priests to get them out of the church. Dolan called claims that the disbursements were payoffs "false, preposterous, and unjust." Supporters say the moves showed a willingness to confront the problem head-on, in contrast to how the church had long handled the scandal.

The Rev. Donald Hying, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said Dolan left a lasting impression during his time in Wisconsin.

“He never really stopped being a parish priest,” Hying recalled. “What struck me the most about him was his radical availability to people, his tremendous joy, his boundless energy.  He visited every one of the 205 parishes, every school, every fish fry.  He seemed to be everywhere at once.

“Every Catholic in Milwaukee has at least one Cardinal Dolan story -- a phone call, a letter, a drop-in visit -- some way that he reached out to people in moments of joy, sorrow, suffering and triumph,” Hying added. “He is an amazing man.”

Colin Nykaza, director of Young Adult Outreach for the Archdiocese of New York, said Dolan combines a sense of humor with an firm commitment to the church's long-held principles.

"His unwavering support on the dignity of human life and marriage has been crucial and vital for this Archdiocese when our very core beliefs are under attack," Nykaza said. "His funny and down to earth approach with dealing with many difficult issues is refreshing."

Dolan, who studied theology in Rome and earned a doctorate at Catholic University in Washington, lacks the language skills typically required of a pope. But If elected by the 115-member Papal Conclave, Dolan would continue – if not accelerate – the Vatican’s newfound embrace of technology. Where Pope Benedict received great fanfare for joining Twitter last year, Dolan is a veteran of the tweet, boasting 80,000 followers, and has his own blog, “The Gospel in the Digital Age.”

Georgetown University Prof. Thomas Reese wrote last week in his blog that the Conclave is “looking for someone who can preach the gospel in a way that is understandable and attractive to people in the 21st century. In other words, they want Jesus Christ with an MBA.”

There has never been a non-European pope, much less an American. Paddy Power currently lists Dolan as a 33-1 shot, well behind favorite Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, at 5-to-2, and Italian Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Angelo Scola, both of whom the Irish bookmaker lists at 7-to-2 odds.

If an American cardinal is to be the next pope, and his name is not Timothy Dolan, it will likely be Boston’s Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley. O’Malley, 68, was appointed archbishop in 2003, replacing the outgoing Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned after the sexual abuse scandal engulfed the parish. O’Malley is credited with applying a no-nonsense, hard-line approach to the pedophile priests, and has said the next pope must show no tolerance for them or bishops who protect them.

Where Dolan is known for wit and warmth, O’Malley is seen as an uncompromising and demanding administrator. Also making O’Malley a long shot is the fact that he is a Capuchin friar and not a diocesan priest, making him something of an outsider to the elector cardinals. Although worshippers within his parish believe he is a strong candidate to lead the church, O’Malley has dismissed suggestions that he is a legitimate contender.

For his part, Dolan also downplayed his chances of succeeding Benedict.

“I’ve got a better chance following ‘A-Rod’ at third base for the Yankees than following Benedict XVI as the bishop of Rome,” Dolan told reporters in Rome.

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